When Benildus were Champions’ League

OK, technically it was Dundrum, but they merged with St Benildus a few years later, and one of the players on the team is still playing with us, so we’ll claim it!

Here’s the story of when we/Dundrum took on MTK Budapest in the 1985 European Chess Cup. Susan Polgar – at 16, the world’s number one woman at the time – was either rested or not quite strong enough to make the team, which included Lajos Portisch – world number 6 at the time – on board 1. We picked up a quite creditable five draws over the 12 games, including one for Kevin McHugh against a GM on board 3.

Three of the games, including Kevin’s defeat in the return game as black, can be viewed here.